Liam Neeson, Ethan Frome, 1992. Lost out to the new Irishman in town for the lead of the second Edith Wharton book filmed in a year.

Georges Corraface, Christopher Columbus: The Discovery, 1992. After Timothy Dalton sailed away, the Salkinds thought of Byrne, who had been Diego de Geona Taino, aka Cristoforo Colombo, in an Italian TV-mini, 1985. Then, they played safe, choosing Corraface, an actor with a following in France, Greece and Spain.

Daniel Day-Lewis, In The Name of the Father, 1993. Byrne bought Gerry Conlon's book, Proved Innocent, to play Gerry. Finally, he passed it to 1989 Oscar-winning My Left Foot team and stayed on as exec producer.

Gary Oldman, Immortal Beloved, 1995. Anthony Hopkins said no to Mel Gibson's production. Byrne pulled out just before shooting - and Oldman fell for his leading lady, Isabelle Rossellini. Didn't they all.

Matthew McConaughey, Amistad, 1997. Falling for the McConaughey hype from A Time To Kill, Steven Spielberg made his worst casting error after considering the far better Byrne, John Cusack, Aidan Quinn. Mac was just too 20th Century for 1839.

James Belushi, Separate Lives, 1995. When Rick Rosenthal was due to helm the ex-cop studying for pychology degree.

David Morrissey, Basic Instinct 2, 2005. The Irishman decided against playing Sharon Stone’s London shrink - as naked as she was. Three years later, he was HBO’s top shrink for In Treatment, the 2008-09 US version of an Israeli drama series, exec-produced by, of all people, Mark Wahlberg. “I let myself down,” said Morrissey. “When it came out… I didn’t want to leave the house. It was a very bruising experience.